Report Outlines Oil and Gas Activity in Ohio

The Debrosse Memorial Report was presented at this year’s Ohio Oil and Gas Association’s (OOGA) annual meeting. The report provides a visual analysis of the industry’s operations in Ohio for the 2017 year. Topics of the report include:

General overview of Ohio oil & gas production

Permits & completion summaries

Operator activity (footage drilled, number of wells)

Activity by county (footage drilled, number of wells)

Initial production analysis for horizontal wells

Change of owners

Production summary

Utica estimated ultimate recovery summary

Class II injection well summary

The report reflects Ohio’s increase in natural gas production as well as permitting from the previous year. Total natural gas production (conventional and unconventional) totaled 1.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2017, a 23% increase from 2016. While the total is below Pennsylvania’s total production of 6.36 Tcf, the trends are similar. Permits issued in 2017 reached 931, a 66% increase from the previous year.

Ascent Resources, Chesapeake Exploration, and Gulfport Energy were the three top active operators based on a per well and footage drilled basis, accounting for 48% of total wells and 53% of total footage drilled. The most active counties were Belmont, Monroe, and Jefferson, all centrally located on the state’s eastern border. They account for 57% of total wells and 67% total footage drilled. (Footage per well includes the total drilled from the surface to the total depth, factoring in both vertical and horizontal wells.) Average footage per well has increased as operators continue to seek optimal laterals and stage spacing of wells. Average unconventional well footage in 2011 was only 4,192 feet, versus 16,263 in 2017. Eclipse Resources Corp announced laterals drilled last year that were over 19,000 feet.

While there was a slight decline in combined oil production in 2017, this can be attributed to the large unconventional players focusing on drier acreage. The announced partnership of PTT Global chemical pcl and South Korea-based Daelim Industrial Co. indicates doubling the size of the proposed ethane cracker plant in Belmont County. With production estimated at 1.5 million metric tons per year of ethylene, this will be sure to play a role for production in the state in the future.